Proposal

How does this compare to GB position?

Zero and low hours contracts

The consultation response recognises that some workers benefit from flexible contracts, but states that action is necessary to address one-sided flexibility. The Department is therefore proposing to:

• Introduce a right for zero and low hours workers who consistently and regularly work more hours than their contract states to move to a contract that more accurately reflects their working pattern (a 'banded hours' contract). Under this system, which is based on one used in the Republic of Ireland, workers would be placed in a 'band' based on the average number of hours they had worked during a reference period, and would have the right to a number of weekly working hours within that band (e.g. 3 – 6 hours, 6 – 11 hours, etc.) There is as yet no definition of what counts as 'low hours' for these purposes. An eligible worker will be able to apply for a banded hours contract after a qualifying period. The length of such a period remains to be confirmed, but the suggested period is 26 weeks. An employer will only be able to refuse a request for a banded hours contract in limited circumstances (to be set out in regulations).
• Require employers to include information about the right to banded hours in the statement of particulars that they must provide to workers at the start of employment.
• Give zero and low hours workers a right to reasonable notice of shift patterns, and compensation where their employer cancels or curtails a shift at short notice. The precise details of these rights will be set out in regulations after further engagement with stakeholders.
• Ban exclusivity clauses in zero and low hours contracts that do not guarantee an income above the Lower Earnings Limit.

The ERB includes a similar proposal to give zero and low hours workers in GB the right to a contract that more accurately reflects their working pattern. However, an important distinction between the GB and NI proposals is that in GB employers will be required to make qualifying workers a guaranteed hours offer, whereas in NI it will be for the worker to apply for a banded hours contract. In addition, the reference period across which a worker's average number of hours would be counted has not yet been confirmed in either jurisdiction. The current proposal in GB is 12 weeks, while the consultation response does not suggest a particular period for NI. (A longer period would be preferable for employers whose operations involve seasonal fluctuations.)

The NI proposals on reasonable notice of shift patterns and compensation for short notice cancellation and curtailment of shifts appear to match those in the ERB, although differences may emerge as the details of the proposals are further developed in each jurisdiction.

Further details of the ERB proposals are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker. Note, unlike in GB, there does not currently appear to be any suggestion that the NI rights will be extended to agency workers in NI, although the proposed legislation there would include powers to extend the rights to other types of contract in the future.

Exclusivity clauses are already banned in zero hours contracts in GB, so that proposal would bring NI into closer alignment with the rest of the UK.

Dismissal and re-engagement

The Department is proposing to make it automatically unfair for an employer to dismiss an employee in order to offer them reemployment on different or less favourable terms (fire and rehire). There will be an exception where the employer can show that it was acting in response to immediate financial difficulty and could not have reasonably avoided the need to seek to vary the terms of the contract.

The consultation response states that the approach proposed in NI 'aligns with' the fire and rehire proposals in the ERB. Further details of these proposals are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker.

Redundancy: offence of failure to notify

Employers are currently required to notify the Department for the Economy if they are proposing to dismiss 20 or more employees as redundant within a specified timeframe. Failure to comply is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000.

To encourage greater compliance, new legislation will introduce personal liability for directors and similar officers where an employer fails to notify the Department of collective redundancies. The cap on the maximum fine will also be removed.

Written particulars

The current law in NI requires employers to provide employees whose employment is expected to last at least one month with a written statement of employment particulars within two months of their start date. Certain matters must be dealt with in a principal statement, while others can be provided in separate documents. People with 'worker' as opposed to 'employee' status are not entitled to a written statement of particulars.

The Department is proposing to extend the right to a written statement of particulars to workers, and to require employers to provide the written statement on or before a worker or employee's first day of employment. The types of information that must be included in the principal statement will be expanded, to include pay, working hours and paid leave, as well as information on the right to join a trade union.

Under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, employers must provide employees and workers with a written statement of employment particulars on or before their first day of employment. The ERB includes a proposal to require employers to include in that statement information about the right to join a trade union. These changes would therefore bring NI and GB into line with each other.

Proposal

How does this compare to GB position?

Allocation of tips

In order to ensure that tips are allocated fairly, the Department will legislate to require employers to pass all payments for service that are in their control on to workers, other than deductions required by law. Employers will be required to keep records of such payments and workers will have the right to request access to those records. A statutory Code of Practice will set out the principles of fairness and transparency.

Equivalent provisions in GB are contained in the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, which came into force in October 2024.

Pay statements

At present, workers in NI who do not have employee status do not have a statutory right to an itemised pay statement, and employees' right to an itemised pay statement does not include a right to an itemised breakdown of the hours for which they have been paid. The Department proposes to legislate to ensure all workers have the right to an itemised pay statement, which must include details of the number of paid hours worked, where pay varies by time worked.

These changes will bring the position in NI in line with that in GB.

Calculating holiday pay

Calculating a week's statutory holiday pay for workers with variable hours and/or pay in NI currently involves taking an average of pay received over a 12 week reference period. The Department is proposing to change this to a 52 week reference period in order to more fairly reflect average pay for casual and seasonal workers.

The reference period for calculating a week's statutory holiday pay was amended to 52 weeks in GB in 2020. This change will bring NI into line with that. However, there is no suggestion that the separate holiday entitlement and pay regime for 'irregular hours' and 'part-year' workers, which now applies in GB, will be introduced in NI.

Working time records

Employers in NI must keep records to demonstrate compliance with the 48 hour maximum average weekly working time limit. The Department has decided not to legislate to increase or change these record keeping requirements, but will produce guidance for employers and workers to support compliance.

In GB, the requirement to keep records relating to the 48 hour limit on average weekly working time was modified with effect from 1 January 2024, to clarify that employers may keep records in whatever manner and format they wish, and that they "need not record each worker's daily working hours" if they can demonstrate their compliance without doing so. This relative freedom does not apply in NI.

However, in relation to holiday entitlement and pay, the ERB will introduce new requirements for employers in GB to keep specific records to demonstrate their compliance with the requirements of the Working Time Regulations 1998. For further details, see our Employment Rights Bill tracker. These requirements will not apply in NI.

Proposal

How does this compare to GB position?

Workplace access

Trade unions will be granted a statutory right to request access to workplaces, including digital access. Unions will only be able to enter a workplace during reasonable times and in compliance with site health and safety arrangements, but employers will not be able to unreasonably withhold access.

The ERB includes a similar proposal to give trade unions in GB a right of access to workplaces. Further details of this proposal are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker.

Union recognition

Currently, trade unions can only seek recognition from an employer if – among other things – the employer has at least 21 employees. However, most businesses in NI do not meet that minimum employee threshold. The Department is therefore proposing to reduce the threshold, so that trade unions can request recognition from employers that have at least 10 employees.

The threshold conditions for trade union recognition are different in GB. However, proposals included in the ERB seek to make it easier for trade unions to gain recognition. Further details are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker.

Notice of industrial action

The consultation had sought views on a proposal to reduce the notice that trade unions must give employers to take industrial action following a successful ballot, from seven to five days. However, the consultation response confirms that this proposal will not be taken forward. The Department does, however, intend to legislate to permit the use of e-balloting in industrial action ballots.

The ERB proposes to reduce the notice of industrial action that trade unions in GB must give employers from 14 to 10 days. The government has also confirmed that e-balloting will be introduced in GB. Further details are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker.

Protection for trade union representatives and employees participating in industrial action

The Department has decided not to legislate for further protection for trade union representatives, but instead to produce a Code of Practice on facilitating workplace relationships, which will include a minimum set of expected behaviours as to how all parties should engage with each other.

However, protection from dismissal for employees who take part in official industrial action will be increased. Currently, such protection usually only applies for the first 12 weeks after the industrial action starts, but the Department is proposing to remove this 12 week limitation. If this proposal does become law, then an employer wishing to dismiss an employee during long-running official industrial action will have to take extra care to demonstrate that the dismissal is for reasons other than the employee's participation in the industrial action.

The ERB includes a proposal to protect workers from detriment for taking protected industrial action. This addresses the gap in the current law that was identified by the Supreme Court in the Mercer case that workers currently have no protection against sanctions short of dismissal for taking part in lawful industrial action (see our report on Mercer here). Interestingly, the Mercer case was raised in response to the consultation in NI and the Department has said that it will consider this issue, so there may yet be further developments in NI on this.

The ERB also proposes to remove the 12 week limitation on protection from dismissal for employees who take part in official industrial action, so in this respect the laws in GB and NI look set to be more closely aligned.

Further details are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker.

Information and Consultation

The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 (ICE Regulations) give employees in large organisations rights to be informed about specified business matters. The Department is proposing to amend the ICE Regulations to:

• Ensure that the right to request an ICE agreement will apply to smaller establishments and satellite offices within larger organisations
• Reduce the percentage of employees required to make a valid request for an ICE agreement from 10% to 2%, and the minimum number of employees required for such a request from 15 to 10.

Proposal

How does this compare to GB position?

Flexible working

The requirement to have 26 weeks' continuous service to make a flexible working request will be removed – i.e. it will become a day one right. Employees will be able to make two statutory flexible working requests in a 12 month period, and will no longer be required to state the potential impact of their request.

The statutory grounds on which employers can refuse a request will remain unchanged, but employers will have to show that they have acted reasonably.

The bulk of the changes now proposed in NI have applied in GB since 6 April 2024. This change would therefore bring the position in NI into line with that in GB.

The requirement for an employer to act reasonably in turning down a flexible working request is a proposal that is included in the ERB. Further details are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker.

Carer's leave

The Department will legislate for a new right for employees to take up to one week of unpaid carer's leave every 12 months to care for a family member or dependant with a long-term care need.

Save in an emergency, employees will have to give the greater of:

• Three days' notice of their leave dates, or
• Twice as many days as the amount of leave requested (e.g. two days' notice for one day's leave)

It will be unlawful to dismiss or subject an employee to a detriment for taking or seeking to take carer's leave.

The legislation will also provide for the possibility, in the future, of making carer's leave a paid entitlement. The consultation response states that the Department intends to lobby Westminster to introduce a statutory entitlement to paid carer's leave, in order to resolve the affordability challenges that NI would face if doing so on its own.

A statutory right to carer's leave has been in place in GB since 6 April 2024. This change would therefore bring the position in NI into line with that in GB.

As for making carer's leave a paid entitlement, this had been proposed as an amendment to the ERB in the House of Lords, but it does not have government support so seems unlikely to be taken forward. 

Neonatal care leave and pay

A new day one right to up to 12 weeks' neonatal care leave will be introduced for parents of babies admitted to neonatal care in the first 28 days after birth, and who spend at least seven consecutive days in neonatal care.

Statutory neonatal care pay will be available to employees who have at least 26 weeks' continuous service and earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit.

The right to neonatal care leave and pay took effect in GB on 6 April 2025. This change would therefore bring the position in NI into line with that in GB.

Protection from redundancy for pregnant employees and those taking family leave

Legislation will be introduced to extend the priority right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy in a redundancy situation to pregnant employees and employees who have recently returned to work after a period of maternity, adoption, or (six or more weeks of) shared parental leave, Protection will last for 18 months from the date of the child's birth or adoption.

The Department also proposes to legislate to protect such employees from dismissal in certain circumstances.

The extension of the priority right to suitable alternative vacancies in a redundancy situation to employees who are pregnant and those who have recently returned from family-related leave took effect in GB on 6 April 2024. This change would therefore bring the position in NI into line with that in GB.

As for the Department's proposal to protect these employees from dismissal in certain circumstances, the consultation response describes this as "on par with rights being introduced in Britain" via the ERB. Further details of those proposed rights are set out in our Employment Rights Bill tracker.

Paternity leave

The statutory right to paternity leave will be amended to allow employees to take their leave as two separate blocks of one week, or a single block of two weeks, at any time within 52 weeks following birth or adoption.

Notice requirements for paternity leave in birth and surrogacy cases will be reduced from 15 weeks to 28 days for each period of leave.

Paternity leave will become a day one right (removing the requirement for employees to have 26 weeks' service to be eligible for such leave).

The proposed changes to how and when employees can take paternity leave, and the notice required in birth and surrogacy cases, reflect changes that were introduced in GB with effect from 6 April 2024.